The Financial Post reports in its Friday, June 16, edition that interest rate hikes were meant to bite, but they have not. A Financial Times dispatch to the Post reports that the American economy is still growing and the S&P 500 index has climbed more than 14 per cent this year. With two weeks still to go, this is already one of the best half-years for the index in two decades. Strip out just a tiny clutch of companies, all tech heavy hitters, and the index is going nowhere. Carmignac Gestion analyst Frederic Leroux says, "The big tech stocks in the S&P now are the same situation as oil companies were in the past, or the Nifty 50 in the 1960s." Nifty 50 refers to the craze that swept shares in a small number of fast-growing companies such as IBM, Eastman Kodak and Xerox higher before a heavy decline set in. "It's a problem, but it's a recurring problem." The performance of the S&P 500 index is now the most concentrated it has been since the 1970s. Seven of the biggest constituents -- Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Nvidia, Tesla and Meta Platforms -- have ripped higher, gaining between 40 per cent and 180 per cent this year. The remaining 493 companies are flat.